Doctor Who: 5 Things We Don’t Want To See In The 50th Anniversary Special

It’s now less than three months until Doctor Who’s 50th Anniversary and, more importantly, the 50th Anniversary Special. As well as some Whovians most likely planning a nerdrage-powered revolution thanks to the continued absence of a trailer, anticipation for the Anniversary Special is at an all time high. Especially with the recent leak of a grainy image from the episode that shows the John Hurt, Tenth, and Eleventh Doctors together.

Although the Special looks to be in safe hands with Steven Moffat writing it and Nick Hurran (The Girl Who Waited, Asylum Of The Daleks) directing it, there’s still a possibility that there could be some elements in the episode that will either drag down its quality outright or that won’t suit such a huge milestone in Doctor Who history. These are five things we don’t want to see in the 50th Anniversary Special…

5. Too Much Focus On The Time War

Although it’s not been officially confirmed yet, all the evidence we have points to the Anniversary Special showing at least part of the Time War. The only official image we have so far is of a group of Daleks in a rubble-strewn battleground, so it’s likely that the John Hurt Doctor was the Doctor who ended the Time War. It’s been a prominent theme in the programme since 2005, and finally, it’s an event of astounding importance that we’ve only ever seen snippets of.

So if the Time War is a part of the Anniversary Special, it can potentially work well, but only if it’s used as a set-up for the Hurt Doctor or another plotline. The Anniversary Special should be an original story that expands and celebrates the Doctor Who mythos rather than something that just goes back and fills in the gaps from eight years ago.

The Eighth and Hurt Doctors’ Regenerations should be shown and if the episode restores the Time Lords, so much the better. But since the Time War is a concept that only became an established part of the Doctor Who canon in 2005, it shouldn’t have too much of a bearing on a one-off episode that pays tribute to fifty years of the programme.

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James T. Cornish is a 21 year old writer and filmmaker from South England. He drinks absinthe, frequently wears a fez, and has a love of science fiction and situation comedy that borders on the obsessive. He also has a Bachelor Of Arts degree in Media Production from the University Of Winchester.
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Discussion

31 Comments

Moffat claimed that the anniversary should not be about the past fifty years, but the next (despite the actual meaning of the word ‘anniversary’). This could indicate that he plans on Moffatwisting in a surprise regeneration. More likely, however, is that it will be like 9/10 other instances of his metadiegetic narrative and basically mean nothing other than “watch the show.”

It is until he finishes with it, then some other person comes in and makes it his show. You don’t want tentative caretakers running this property, otherwise it’d be dull and take few risks! I don’t even like Moffat, but he certainly has a better story sense than underage absinthe drinkers slash wannabe filmmakers.

With all due respect, what show-runner or head hasn’t? RTD certainly did, as did Robert Holmes. And they had permission because they were in charge of expanding legitimate cannon. Moffat isn’t just in charge of creating plot twists for a weekly episode or a general story arc – he’s in charge of inventing anything about the Doctor’s past, future and even identity. Heck – Neil Gaiman, when he wrote The Doctor’s Wife, very much treated Doctor Who, for 45 minutes, as ‘his’ show.

I swear, there is no way they can make you whovians happy. if they do A then you all complain and moan. if they dont do A and instead go with b you lot still complain and moan…just shut up and enjoy the fact that the show not only came back..but somehow managed to be popular and is finally getting the respect and attention it so rightfully deserved.

I totally agree. You cannot just say “I want this and this and this to happen,” because at that point its like you want everything to turn out exactly as you want, and that wouldn’t be interesting. There must be plot twists. There must be things that stray away from the normal path.

Then dont watch it!
You just named the reasons for why it would make a great episode/movie.
The episode should be about future seasons, never the past ones, it should be in respective of the revived series and NOT the old series!

I predict it to be a massive let-down, and that essentially all fan-speculated scenarios will be better. Remember The End of Time? Did anything really interesting actually happen? Well, something actually did (two fixed points in time competing for dominance with the entire future in flux) but unless you read the screenplay like I did, that point was probably lost among the melodrama.

Out of curiosity, have you looked at many of the fanbases these days? So many of them like to argue that “We” want something, when, in reality, it is only the dream of 1 person. A more appropriate title here would have been “Things I would not like to see in the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Episode”. As another commenter wrote: These are your opinions. They aren’t all shared by the entire fanbase. Everything I’ve seen/read has led me to believe that they will pay tribute to not only the newer series, but the classics as well.

Let’s face it though: Doctor Who is one of the few show in existence that can continually keep its fans coming back for more.

As much as I would like to see a nostalgic lovefest that includes all the living actors who have played the Doctor, it would not serve the story. The only former classic Doctor who could reasonably return and not stretch the suspension of disbelief would be Paul McGann since we never saw the 8th Doctor as as he appeared at the end of his incarnation. By all means, let the former Doctors appear in 50th anniversary celebrations, they deserve it. But shoehorning them into a current Who story would clutter up the narrative and turn off casual or new Who fans who make up the bulk of Doctor Who’s audience. The days when the audience was expected to ignore the advanced age of the returning actors (as was done with Pertwee and Troughton) are over. I’m sure Moffat has thought up some way to honor these actors, we’ll just have to wait and see.

So it has to show the 8th Doctor regenerate, include references to the classic series, but ALSO be accessible to a mass audience? What the hell kind of a shopping list are you demanding? Surely you notice many of your demands cancel each other out. This would be why Moffat writes the successful shows and you snivel online and tell him what to do! Based on what, then? Your vast experience writing episodic television? No, don’t have any of that? Thought not. Stop using “we” as well, it doesn’t bolster your argument.

I totally agree about seeing the 12th Doctor. I’m also hoping the wool has been pulled over our eyes and Mcgann regenerates into Hurt and then by the end that timeline is aborted due to whatever Hurt did and Mcgann then regenerates into Eccleston… or Hurt regenerates into Eccleston.. having been ostricized as it were… and this makes Matt regenerate into Peter Capaldi with the reverberations.

Actually we can already be fairly sure that #1 is NOT going to happen. It was already announced months ago, that Matt Smith will be stepping down at the end of the Christmas special, which means we’ll see another Christmas regeneration. Thus, the transition will happen in the following episode.

I would be willing to bet that Matt will be GONE by Christmas. I think Moffat has been fibbing to us that the regeneration will take place in the Christmas episode. Why else would they have already revealed 12? AND…as soon as the 50th was finished filming, Matt shaved his head for the Ryan Gosling movie….is the Doctor being held captive in a POW camp, or forced to join the Army?? Doubt it. Will he wear a wig for the Christmas episode? I think not (crossing my fingers). So, I wouldn’t hold your breath on #1, James Cornish! (of course, I could be wrong….)

Speak for yourself, Sir. Kinda getting tired of these articles that generalizes what the fans want when the contents merely express the desires of certain author or minority. Let us just sit back and enjoy the show.

5. I disagree. I’d quite like to know a lot more about the Time War in fact. RTD dropped numerous names and events, but never expanded on them and what happened. Plus I’d like to see how Time Lords actually fight each other. Not simply manipulate, but have an all-out war. I want to see a battle TARDIS.

4. Moffat’s era has had more references in less episodes so far. I think we’ll be fine. Someone has said that Ten makes a classic comment when he sees the TARDIS interior.

3. I’m actually hoping it is. It’s essentially a Doctor Who movie we’re getting. It should have a heavy plot that builds into the Doctor Who mythos. Otherwise it’s just another random adventure. It should be special. And none of this “it can be a standalone episode that audience members who haven’t been following the past few series can enjoy without thinking “What’s going on?” every couple of minutes”. The special is for fans and should be for fans. It shouldn’t have to limit itself because some random person decides to watch. That may sound harsh, but it should be a reward for those that have watched and supported it over the 50 years.

2. Self indulgence is best, to be honest. If you write something you wouldn’t watch yourself then what is the point in writing it at all? If JK Rowling wrote for the fans, half the beloved characters she killed would still be alive. I put my trust in Moffat, as a Whovian, to write something he’d enjoy. It’s worked out well so far.

My Thoughts… The announcement of 12 so far ahead was the real red herring. He’s a great actor but he’s already a main character in another running BBC Series… but it serves 2 purposes… 1. no one’s asking about it anymore & 2. leaves the door open for the real #12 who may be hiding in plain sight…

On other thoughts expressed here, there is the very real possibility given Clara falling through the Dr’s time line this 50th anniversary will threaten rupturing reality’s…hence dr 10 and Rose popping back in… ya, ya, they say it’s “the real dr” but Mofats admitted he’ll lie like a rug til it hurts to avoid the real story getting out. What if that’s the 1/2 Dr who becomes the evil dr… tenant’s dr becoming/playing the valyard or maybe even the master as a returning character would be awesome…

Personally, having read the books that were pre the revived series, I’d like to see some of that story line made cannon. Lungburrow was brilliant and explained his “grand daughter” and went on to explain the whole regeneration process more or less given timelords don’t have offspring as humans do.